Today, two days prior to our trip to Hong Kong, I noticed that I still had about half a pound of fresh ginger sitting on the kitchen counter. It was too good to toss, and too much to use in two nights of cooking. But what about mixing into a beverage?
Winter, after all, is also known as cold season. Temps have dipped even lower in the past few days, and I have been feeling a bit under the weather. Since ginger supposedly rids your body of heat and wards off colds, the Chinese make liberal use of ginger in soups this time of the year. Well, tonight I was in the mood for a sweet beverage instead of soup. So I got out my brand new blender to make a hot, frothy ginger milk tea.
With a little kick and a lot of warmth, the ginger tea is a strong candidate to join the ranks of hot chocolate and chamomile in the Comfort Drinks canon. Especially on a blistery -4 degrees C winter night.
Ginger Milk Tea
Adapted from Gourmet
Serves 4
3 1/2 cups (840 mL) hot water
4 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons loose black tea leaves
1/2 cup (120 mL) milk
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
Bring the water and ginger to a boil in a small pot. Once it is boiling, turn off the heat. Stir in tea and cover. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes.
Stir in milk and sugar, and add more sugar if needed to suit your tastebuds. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a large (6-cup) blender, discarding the solids. Blend the mixture until foamy (use caution when blending hot liquids), then pour into mugs. Serve immediately.
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Other drink recipes to try:
- Barley Tea (Mugicha)
- Black Cherry Iced Tea
- Kashmiri Chai
- Korean Cinnamon and Ginger Chilled Tea
- Mulled Wine
- Plum and Ginger Soda
- Plum Wine (Umeshu) Spritzer
- Thai Lemongrass and Ginger Iced Tea
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m going to give a try, I love hot ginger.
Although -4C is not at all cold (I live in Canada, Cold is when you get into the -20 range) :P I definitely want to make this for the chilly days when I get tired of hot chocolate!
Thanks!
One needs to be careful. I have used to have ginger milk tea and I grew up with it. Only in my 30′s I discovered that milk ginger tea gave me the following:
I was yawning
I looked always tired
I used to feel nausea
I used to have dry cough
so be careful and work out if your body can take it. As soon as I stopped ginger milk tea, I haven’t had any such problem.
your site is so nicely done and pretty. and soothing and concise. and has lots of yummy tea info on it. and good photos. well done. lovely.
Delicious! I just made this two minutes ago (it’s been chilly and rainy all day in Boston, despite, or maybe because of, it being late April). Though I cut down the sugar by half, I found it still perfectly sweetened
It sounds like what we call masala chai. If you want a ginger tea without milk or black tea, you can just make it with fresh ginger and a few other spices such as cinnamon. I have some pictures on my blog: http://mangosoup.blogspot.com/2009/08/ginger-tea.html
lol. celcius
I really enjoy reading your blog. I don’t cook much, but my wife does! You and her seem to have the same approach to cooking. Excellent blog!
This is SO good. I think I might become addicted to this new version of chai…. It’s just wonderful how the fresh tanginess of the ginger comes together with the creaminess of the milk, with a slight hint of black tea. Wonderful!